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There's a rule in Chinese that says that when you have two or more verbs in a sentence, you should put 了 in the last one. As in:
他们请经理吃了饭。
How bad would it sound if you put 了 before 请?
他们请了经理吃饭。
If it's not bad at all, what would be the differece between the two?
Thanks!
他们请经理吃了饭- subtle emphasize what they eat, but not necessarily.
他们请了经理吃饭- to emphasize who they buy dinner for
There's another possible way to say this:
他们请经理吃饭了- subtle emphasis on the thing happened, but not necessarily.
It really depends on how you say it, your tune can change the emphasis too. They all have the same meaning. The second one probably has stronger effect.
Please correct me if i'm wrong.
Most likely, I'd say 他们请经理吃饭了 or 他们请经理吃了饭 in practice.
他们请了经理吃饭 might be ok, but it doesn't look a normal word order. Usually, we just say: 他们请了经理 meaning they invited the manager. What that invitation is for is often implied(assuming it can be figured out from the context).
This is probably just me. Others might take different opinions.
他们请经理吃了饭。
It was dinner that they invited the manager to have.
他们请了经理吃饭。
It was the manager that they invited to have dinner.
